The wool

Fleece
Following April's sheering, the wool went into a garage, stored in sheets while we considered what to do with all the stinky, dirty stuff.
It's now early August, and after doing nothing for most of the summer, I investigated getting it processed at a mill. It was going to cost around $400-yikes!
This last weekend I started researching the best way to wash/process the fleece myself.
I purchased a large, mesh "lingerie" bag and some Dawn dish washing detergent and went to work. I had talked to someone at a fiber store and it seemed easy enough, so Hannah and I threw the first bag of wool into the luke-warm water. So much "stuff" was coming out of it, it was too irresistible to swish it around a bit-I know it's not supposed to be too agitated because that will cause felting, so we were kind of careful. Not careful enough though because the outside wool did felt.
Thank goodness for the internet because I then went and did further research and for the next batch, I was much more careful. Also I put in water as hot as I could get it, including adding tea kettles full of boiling water. I believe the changes I made were relatively small, but the difference in the wool was night and day. I had no felting on the second batch, or the third batch. It takes quite a bit of time to wash and rinse, but the result it clean soft wool. I'm going to use the $400 I saved in the processing to get a drum carder.
I really know so little about the whole fiber processing that it's quite possible that the fleece we have is not really worth even working with. At this point, it's just fun to learn something new, using the wool from our little sheep!
Pregnancy News
When the sheerer came in April, he did a little informal pregnancy check (squeezed udders) and proclaimed that the three he checked were pregnant. We figured as much because once the wool was off those ewes it was clear that they weren't just fluffy, they were FAT. The first possible day for delivery was early June. Thank goodness we didn't camp out in the barn waiting for the blessed event! Here we are in early August, and there are still no lambs! On Wednesday the vet is coming out and will do ultra-sounds on them and we'll get an answer. The last possible day for delivery is Aug. 20, but really at this point, I think they are just fat, spoiled sheep. At least we have the wool.